Key factors to consider when choosing a VPN

When investing in a VPN it makes sense to know exactly what features you need and those you don't. It could end up saving you a lot of money

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Let's start with the basics: what is a virtual private network (VPN)? In short, it's an encrypted connection from your device to a remote server. VPNs used to be common in the workplace, allowing those working remotely to access an on-premises or cloud-based office network.

Here, though, we're looking at consumer VPN providers. These subscription-based services provide an encrypted tunnel for all your internet traffic and typically provide endpoints in scores of different locations, allowing you to virtually locate yourself in any of those places.

Privacy is a major selling point for VPN services. Data going to and from your device through an encrypted link to a remote server can't be inspected by your ISP or, typically, monitoring tools on a local network. But that also means your VPN provider can see all your data, so you need to know that you can trust them.

Region-shifting

The most popular reason for using a VPN is to access region-locked entertainment content, such as the extended movie catalogue of US Netflix, national TV from your native country, or US newspapers that have blocked UK and EU readers rather than comply with our more stringent data protection laws.

Media licence holders are, for obvious reasons, unhappy about this and have pressured streaming companies to ensure compliance. As a result, there's a constant arms race between streaming services that are increasingly blocking IP ranges they think are likely to be used by VPN providers, and VPN services, which are seeking to obtain residential IP addresses from blocks assigned to home users.

Some VPN services, such as Mullvad and Avast SecureLine, don't prioritise region-shifting for streaming and don't advertise their services on that basis.